He's helping college students navigate rough waters of life

August 30, 2006|IDA CHIPMAN Tribune Correspondent

PLYMOUTH Mark Bieszka and his younger brother, Nathan, were called the "Red Rockets" of the Plymouth Rockie football team, from 1998 to 2005. Now, Mark has become a missile of another kind. He is in God's arsenal in the fight against sin and hopelessness on college campuses. Mark is a spring graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington, with a bachelor's degree in biochemistry. He's a member of the Edge Corps of the U.S. Collegiate Navigators, an interdenominational movement. He's committed to two years on a four-person team at Indiana University. "The girls are from Taylor and Purdue universities, and the other guy is a graduate of Miami of Ohio," he said. In Plymouth this summer, he met with family, friends and churches to invite them to partner with him in his mission. "Edge members must raise their own support of $26,601," he said. "That goes toward ministerial expenses, part of which is my yearly salary of $12,000," he said. Growing up in Plymouth, Mark was more interested in sports than the spiritual scene. He played defensive back on the football team, wrestled at 145 to 152 pounds and was a sprinter in track, running the 100, 200 and 4 by 100 relay. Was he religious? "Nope. Not at all," he said, forcefully. Raised a Catholic, it was a few months into his freshman year at IU that he went through a change. It became clear to him that he was "a little fish in a very big pond." "I realized that everything I had been going for -- sports, athletics, fame, popularity -- everything came crashing down." Confused and lost, he turned to God. He came to know Christ in a personal relationship. Rhee Ann Baumgartner, his mother, said, "Praise the Lord for that. He chose Christ and not drugs." Mark made contact with The Navigators. His sophomore year, he moved off-campus and began teaching Sunday school classes to elementary students at the Evangelical Community Church. This last summer, Mark spent time in Colorado Springs, training for his new vocation. "We studied the Bible, growing in Christ and learning how to best share His word," he said. He prayed and asked God to give him a verse if He wanted him to go. "John 17:18 came to my mind," Mark said. "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." Mark said God has called him to work with college students. "They are so open," he said.